Rape Crisis is calling the system to account during the 16 Days of No Violence Against Women and Children.

On Thursday the 25th November 2010, the annual 16 Days of No Violence Against Women and Children kicks off. This year the Rape Crisis Cape Town Trust has two exciting initiatives it will be involved in.

The first is the launch of their revised ‘You & Rape’ book, available in three official languages: English, Afrikaans and Xhosa. The publications were supported by a grant of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime through a partnership between UNODC and Rape Crisis for implementation of the European Union funded ‘Support to the Government of South Africa’s Victim Empowerment’ Programme. The book, , contains up to date information on what to do once someone has raped you, what your rights are, how rape survivors can go about seeking help and information on how to access support through the South African Criminal Justice System. The book will be launched on the 25th November.

The second initiative is the launch of their annual Stop the Bus Campaign. The campaign will run during 16 Days of No Violence Against Women and Children from the 25th November to the 7th of December. Two busses will travel in the Western Cape and will carry volunteer trainers, community activists and counsellors. They will travel to a number of communities conducting workshops, holding networking meetings, doing door to door visits, training and counselling community members on their rights to access services within the CJS and what to do if these rights are not upheld. In this way Rape Crisis supports a number of initiatives calling this system to account.

The Stop the Bus Campaign is held annually to inform people about the Sexual Offences Act and the services they have a right to in order to see justice done and in this way encourage people to speak out and not to deny the reality of rape.

“It’s an advocacy campaign and through it one of our primary aims is to inform people of what their rights are to access services. We also monitor what services there are available to survivors in relation to the Sexual Offences Act. We feel privileged to be able to learn from the communities that we visit as well as being in a position to share our knowledge and through this we hope to build closer working relationships.” said Shiralee McDonald, Counselling Coordinator, at the Rape Crisis Cape Town Trust.

The first bus will be in Stanford on the 26th and 27th of November. It will then travel onto Gansbaai for the 29th and 30th of November.

The second bus then departs from the Rape Crisis Athlone office at 14h00 on the 2nd December. It will be in the Worcester area on the 3rd and 4th of December and from there it travels onto its final community, Atlantis, where it will be on the 6th and 7th of December. In Atlantis, McDonald points out that they are particularly calling on the community to come and visit the bus, if they would like to become trained as Victim Support Volunteers.

Through the launch of their revised You and Rape book, as well as the Stop the Bus campaign Rape Crisis has one overarching goal, to empower networks and communities to call the system to account and in this way create safe spaces and safe relationships within communities.

The You & Rape book is available through the Rape Crisis Cape Town Trust.